Lopez claims the president emboldened vandals in the “Land of Lincoln” when Trump blamed “both sides” for violence at a Charlottesville, Virginia, rally, which left one woman dead and 38 injured.

“When you have a president who, from his point of moral authority as leader of the free world, condones the actions of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, people who believe in a segregated society – when he refuses to refute what their actions are – you embolden people to continue,” Lopez said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

“They’re not being told what they’re doing is wrong. You inspire people to act on the anger and emotions that they’ve had in them and tried to hold inside. Now, you’re giving them a path to come out and be as anger-filled as they want to be.”

President Trump unequivocally and repeatedly condemned the “violence, bigotry and hatred” and called for national unity. But it still wasn’t enough for the mainstream media and leftist detractors. Despite the mishmash of extremist groups on the scene, the left and mainstream media demanded that Trump condemn the hateful actions specifically of the white supremacists and neo-Nazis. But nary a peep was said of Antifa’s role in the violence. On Monday, President Trump specifically condemned white supremacists. On Tuesday, Trump said: “I think there’s blame on both sides. You had a group on one side that was bad. You had a group on the other side that was also very violent. Nobody wants to say that. I’ll say it right now.”

But Lopez stuck to his claims and accusations: “I believe what happened to Abraham Lincoln wasn’t just a random act of violence,” he said. “It wasn’t just [plastered] with graffiti or tipped over. This was an intentional act to try to destroy this statue.

“The fire was intense. The soot is baked onto it. There was some planning and some effort to try and destroy this bust, which has been in the community for almost 100 years now. One of the individuals whose family was in the community during the 1920s remembers when the statue was erected. He believes it was actually part of the art from the World’s Fair. It’s unfortunate and disgusting that we have so much hate-filled rhetoric that it inspires people to destroy works of art, particularly a work of art for one of the greatest presidents in this country’s history.”

A nationwide effort is underway to remove Confederate statues and symbols from government grounds across America.

In dozens of cities across the U.S., activists are vandalizing and toppling Confederate monuments and symbols. They’re also pushing for cities, counties and states to destroy or relocate statues dating back more than a hundred years.

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